Inaugural Collaborative Community-Engaged Care Lecture Is December 2
Saint Louis University’s inaugural Collaborative Community Engaged Care Lecture will be on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025.
The keynote speaker will be Elsie Blay, chief operating officer of Ruah Community Services in Northbridge, Western Australia. Her keynote address is titled “Healing and Recovery in Domestic Violence Cross-Cultural and Intersectional Perspectives from Australia.”
The event is free of charge and open to the public from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Education Union auditorium. A live stream option will be provided for those who register in advance.
Following Blay’s keynote address, there will be a question-and-answer session featuring Vithya Murugan, Ph.D., associate professor of Social Work; Stephanie Null, executive director of the St. Louis Anti-Violence Project; Alesha Durfee, Ph.D., professor of women’s and gender studies; and Terri Weaver, Ph.D., professor of psychology at SLU. The session will be moderated by Katie Heiden-Rootes, Ph.D., professor of medical family therapy at SLU.
Prior to the keynote will be the SLU Interprofessional Poster Symposium. This event will take place from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Education Union Foyer. At the poster symposium, over 100 students from athletic training, nursing, occupational therapy, and physical therapy in the IPE 4900, Interprofessional Community Practicum course, will provide an overview of their collaborative health and wellness projects and share more about their experiences with interprofessional teamwork in a community setting.
About the Keynote
Blay runs Ruah Community Services, a leading Western Australian not-for-profit with more than 65 years of experience delivering integrated, recovery-oriented services across mental health, housing and homelessness, family and domestic violence, and legal support. Each year, Ruah supports thousands of people through more than 30 programs designed to strengthen wellbeing, safety, and long-term recovery.
As COO, Blay leads strategy, system reform projects, and organizational integration, with a focus on embedding trauma-informed, evidence-based practice across all service streams.
Blay also oversees Karlup Service, Australia’s first integrated recovery hub for women and children impacted by family and domestic violence. Purpose-built in collaboration with Aboriginal leaders and trauma specialists, Karlup is among Australia’s first healing-centered facilities where design, culture, accommodation, and recovery services are interwoven within a single integrated built form.